


Extreme Remedies

by zellieh



Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Dark, Angst, Biological Weapons, Character Study, Disturbing Themes, Ethical Dilemmas, Ethics, Friendship, Gen, Germ Warfare, Medical Experiments, Military Service, Research, Science Experiments, Triggers, Unethical Behaviour, War Crimes, Weapons, dark themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-23
Updated: 2009-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-05 02:17:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zellieh/pseuds/zellieh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"When the enemy have more men and better weapons, you need to even the odds. We have to use asymmetric warfare tactics. That means...unconventional weapons. It's the only way we'll have a chance..." Beckett subsided, frowning, as Weir looked away and asked for other options.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Extreme Remedies

**Author's Note:**

> Set early in Season Two, but no real spoilers.  
> With thanks to my offline beta - *hugs you*.

**'Extreme remedies are most appropriate for extreme diseases.' -- Hippocrates. **

_"When the enemy have more men and better weapons, you need to even the odds. We have to use asymmetric warfare tactics. That means…unconventional weapons. It's the only way we'll have a chance..." Beckett subsided, frowning, as Weir looked away and asked for other options. _

Carson Beckett is the most terrifying thing in the Pegasus Galaxy. Sometimes Radek can hardly bear to be in the same room with the man. But still, he always helps with his…projects. He hates those projects.

_"You want to know why, don't you? I can see it in your eyes. You want to know why I do…this. Why anyone would ever do anything like…this." Beckett rolls his eyes around the lab. Radek follows his eyes, swallows, and nods. Carefully._

Weir knows about some of the projects. Sheppard is very careful not to ask or tell, although he gives samples, and his teams provide…things. Rodney knows, and doesn't tell Weir, but it terrifies him. Beckett - the things Beckett will do - terrify him, and he covers his fear with his 'voodoo witchdoctor' comments. Which is why Radek has to…help. He hates…helping.

_"Wraith are worse." _

_"What?" _

_"The Wraith. They're worse than any of the other aliens we've faced. They're…better. Stronger. Faster. Healthier. They hit puberty earlier, breed faster, live longer. They're telepathic, as intelligent as we are, and more technologically advanced. We're their only weakness. They'd have wiped out every human in this Galaxy millennia ago if they didn't need us for food. They'll find a way to get to Earth, if we don't find a way to stop them here." _

The most terrifying thing about Beckett is his harmlessness. He can be so kind, so soothing, so friendly. He reminds Radek of the neighbour who always brought his wife flowers, and went to Church every Sunday, and worked for the secret police.

_"You know, Radek, it's strange. The military ordered me to do things, and I hated them. It's one of the reasons I came here, to get away from that. Being ordered to do…things. But now? I don't think I've ever hated anyone as much as I hate Elizabeth for not ordering me to do…this." _

Radek wished he could hack Beckett's files on Earth. The Atlantis files are too…neat. The oh-so-neat files are useless to Radek, so he decides to talk. Carefully. Colleagues talk. And he is…working…with Beckett. Oddly enough, they have a lot in common, which makes it easier – and harder. Easier to talk, harder to be objective. Harder to be afraid.

_"They're dead, you know. They're all dead." Beckett waves at the group photo over his desk. "I didn't even know it was a military project. Burn Before Reading. We were working on the Ancient gene. Of course, I had no idea there was anything special about it then. Someone else knew, though. And so, all of a sudden, my Professor has glowing eyes, and…and I survived because I knew nothing; I wasn't important enough to…to…. Goddamnit." Beckett rubs at his eyes and swigs from a nearly-empty bottle._

The files on the Daedalus are even neater. The military have been tidying up behind Beckett. He's never been a conspiracy theorist, but Carson Beckett's honest face hides so many secrets...

_"So, they gave me a choice. Work at Area 51, or… Well, actually, it wasn't much of a choice, to be honest. And, God, I found out a lot about aliens. More than I ever wanted to know."_

It's hard to be afraid when every week he sees a variation on the same scene, late, when Carson's tired: Carson gripping his head with white-knuckled hands, not so much trying to hold his head, as break it. Staring at the two photos on the wall above his desk: his mother, and the group shot from the first project he worked on. Whispering, "Oh God oh god oh god oh god..."

_"I keep thinking of the Manhattan Project, and Oppenheimer, when he saw what he'd done, and he said 'I am become death, the destroyer of worlds'. God. Oh, God."_

Repeated exposure dulled the terror down to uneasiness, and he was too busy to worry about Carson's secrets, until the night he realised how truly terrifying Carson Beckett was. It was a normal night. Radek went to check on the…projects…and found Carson. A talkative Carson and a nearly empty bottle.

_"They had a lot of plans, you know. The SGC, and the...others. Backup plans, invasion plans, acceptable losses, vaccines, collateral damage, germ warfare, foothold situations, tactical strikes, bio weapons.... I think I worked on most of them at one time or another. And now you want to know, why am I telling you all of this?" Beckett closed his eyes, twisting his lips, and opened them again. "Because you don't like me. You don't trust me. You probably never will. And I don't care. As long as you help me destroy the Wraith, and they never have to implement any of their plans, I don't care about anyone or anything else."_

Yes, Carson Beckett is the most terrifying man in the Pegasus Galaxy, but he's also just a man, a terrified man, and he can't do this alone. So Radek...helps.

_"There'll never be a trial. There should be. I should be tried for the things I've done. The things I'm doing. God knows, I'm guilty. Worse than the Wraith. I hope there's a trial; I hope there's a planet left to go back to, and enough people left to find me guilty. I think prison would be...peaceful."_


End file.
